By Lai Yuhong, Tian Dingyu and Pan Zhen
MOSCOW, Aug. 17 -- On August 14, a military train carrying equipment, materials and personnel of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for the "Tank Biathlon" competition of the International Army Games 2020 (IAG) entered the Alabino training field in the Moscow region. The Russian side held a welcome ceremony for the Chinese PLA. So far, all China’s participating equipment including tanks, wheeled vehicles, ammunition supplies and maintenance equipment have arrived at the relevant competition venue.
Next, the Chinese participating teams will conduct preparatory work including site surveys, weapon calibration, competition draws, on-site vehicle training, etc.
The "Tank Biathlon" competition focuses on testing the overall performance of tank equipment such as cross-country marching and shooting, which requires high level capabilities of both the tank crew members and equipment under actual combat conditions. For this year, the Chinese participating troops will use Type 96B Tanks for the "Tank Biathlon" competition in line with the past few years, while the main equipment for other competitions will be provided by the Russian side.
As the highlight of the IAG, the "Tank Biathlon" competition attracts many countries to participate every year, with16 teams for this year. Except for China's own Type 96B tanks and Belarus's own upgraded version of T-72 main battle tanks, all the other participating countries will use Russian-made T-72B3 tanks as their competition equipment.